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What can you use instead of Google and Facebook?

bbc.com

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Re: What can you use instead of Google and Facebook?

#51

Post by DavideNL »

stiray wrote: post #35

Switch to own hosted searx instance. http://asciimoo.github.io/searx/admin/installation.html One search is sent to multiple search engines and results shown as one. Just go to settings and select qwant and ddg.

If it's own hosted, what's the difference?

Whether i send queries to Google from my browser, or from my own hosted Searx instance, it's the same thing: a query from one of my static ip-addresses to Google (or other search engines.)

It seems to only make sense if this Searx instance is public and your queries are mixed with others. And in that case you have to trust whoever runs this Searx instance won't sell your data just like Google does.

Re: What can you use instead of Google and Facebook?

#52

Post by anderspitman »

arkitaip wrote: post #33
anderspitman wrote: post #8

Google is relatively straight forward to replace. Inexpensive 80% solutions exist for most of their services. Maps is a notable exception. As for Facebook you're fighting against the greatest network effects in the history of mankind.

I had zero issues quitting Facebook but replacing Gmail and Android? That's going to be really tough considering Gmail is my online identify hub and Android facilitates so many utility services (banking, electronic identification, money transfers, etc).

Register a domain if you don't already have one and get Fastmail for 5 USD/mo (includes a calendar as well). If Gmail.com is your online identity hub, then you're not in control of your online identity.

Re: What can you use instead of Google and Facebook?

#53

Post by senthil_rajasek »

cattlemansgold wrote: post #38
senthil_rajasek wrote: post #4

Why are Google and Facebook in the same jail? What breach of privacy is Google guilty of?

He is saying that he is uncomfortable with so much detailed and important information being owned by one entity, not explicitly accusing Google of leaking his info.

Then it's two separate articles. Google and Facebook are not the same when it comes to privacy. This article throws them together in the same bucket and it's really unfair to Google.

Re: What can you use instead of Google and Facebook?

#54

Post by fapjacks »

arkitaip wrote: post #33
anderspitman wrote: post #8

Google is relatively straight forward to replace. Inexpensive 80% solutions exist for most of their services. Maps is a notable exception. As for Facebook you're fighting against the greatest network effects in the history of mankind.

I had zero issues quitting Facebook but replacing Gmail and Android? That's going to be really tough considering Gmail is my online identify hub and Android facilitates so many utility services (banking, electronic identification, money transfers, etc).

Android is perfectly usable with microg! And then look into magisk for functionality requiring root access for things like ad-blocking and a firewall to prevent (or spoof!) all the traffic generated by all those shitty apps trying to ship your personal data off to Google, FB, Twitter, etc in the background.

Re: What can you use instead of Google and Facebook?

#55

Post by anderspitman »

josefresco wrote: post #21

As much as I appreciate DDG getting more press, this article is low quality. No alternatives to Facebook are mentioned, only that you can use Signal, & ProtonMail instead of WhatsApp.

There's still no realistic alternative to FB. It's a social network, not a service.

Re: What can you use instead of Google and Facebook?

#56

Post by ogre_codes »

After ditching Facebook for the past month I’ve realized it doesn’t really need a replacement for it’s primary features. For talking to friends I just use messenger and email more, plus I have a blog and I do occasionally cross post blog posts to Facebook.

Google is fairly easy to replace. Aside from occasional second-opinion searches the only google service I use is Gmail and that only from remote clients... I should replace it but I’m just a bit lazy.

Re: What can you use instead of Google and Facebook?

#57

Post by fapjacks »

anderspitman wrote: post #8

Google is relatively straight forward to replace. Inexpensive 80% solutions exist for most of their services. Maps is a notable exception. As for Facebook you're fighting against the greatest network effects in the history of mankind.

Openstreetmaps is pretty good. The transition has gotten much better than it used to be.

Re: What can you use instead of Google and Facebook?

#58

Post by laurex »

have_faith wrote: post #30
laurex wrote: post #19

(As someone working on an actual alternative to Facebook,) this article seems to mention FB but only really present Google alternatives. That said, I've switched all my default search engines to DDG, which would be even more great if I didn't have to type -yelp for most of my searches.

> working on an actual alternative to Facebook Ditto, would love to hear what direction you're taking it in?

The product (not "mine," I'm a part of the team) has millions of users and ridiculously high review scores. We don't have ads or sell user data, but we make it possible for families and close friends to have real relationships despite scheduling issues or different time zones. If you haven't heard of this product, it may be because it's a family-oriented app with less tech-world adoption than mom-adoption. But fundamentally, it's not about feeds, because there's really not a way I can see that that type of UI doesn't take you down a rabbit hole rather than into a positive feeling about yourself and your relationships.

Re: What can you use instead of Google and Facebook?

#59

Post by maxk42 »

anderspitman wrote: post #8

Google is relatively straight forward to replace. Inexpensive 80% solutions exist for most of their services. Maps is a notable exception. As for Facebook you're fighting against the greatest network effects in the history of mankind.

Bing maps is a great 80%+ solution and last I checked a lot cheaper than Google Maps for API integration.
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